Well, it’s definitely time for an update, I think. I last left you in Bargara, a lovely little seaside town near Bundaberg. Well, we chose that location because of the rum distillery. That’s right, we got to tour the Bundaberg Rum Distillery. And it was awesome. And yes, they do give you samples at the end of the tour. Apparently, many moons ago, there was a huge excess of molasses due to the processing of all the sugarcane they grow and refine in the area. What did they decide to do with this excess molasses? Well, make rum, of course! And all it takes, other than molasses, is yeast (Sacchromyces cervisiae, to be exact), water, and time. One part of the tour was the aging vats, where the rum sits and ages for at least 2 years. We weren’t allowed cameras on the tour because they could potentially cause a spark, and the alcohol content of the air in that building could cause a massive explosion. And, quite frankly, that would be a huge waste of rum. And, ooh, did that room smell delicious. We were allowed to sample almost all the products they make there at the end of the tour (including the rum liquer they make where they mix rum, chocolate and coffee-oh, yes, we bought a bottle of that), and we did. Though Glen did most of the drinking and I restricted myself to sips so one of us could drive. Possibly the best tour ever.
After that we made a quick stop at the “mystery craters”, which are craters made from rock that no one has any idea as to how they formed. Glen and I agreed they’re probably volcanic, given what they looked like. Then we basically just drove the rest of that day and the entire next day to get to Cairns. Yesterday we drove up through the rainforest to the “mountain” town of Kuranda. It’s a little Banff/Jasper-esque town with plenty of souvenier shops and a couple attractions. Like the Koala ???, where I did, in fact, get to hold a koala. Princess-the one I got to hold-was pretty sleepy at the time, but she didn’t try to rip my eyes out, so that was pretty cool. And yes, they are even cuter in person. Then we got to feed some kangaroos and wallabies-which are like miniature kangaroos. You’d be surprised how soft kangaroo fur is.
Then we stopped at the bird sanctuary, where the residents are far too friendly in some cases. One particular parrot tried very hard to steal Glen’s glasses, so much so that he actually had to almost fight the bird to get them back. There was another one that wouldn’t get off my shoulder, and yet another that tried to take a chunk out of my finger. Little buggers. We also stopped by the butterfly house, which had butterflies. For lunch we found a place selling authentic Aussie meat pies, so Glen got a Kangaroo one. So yes, we have now tried kangaroo. It’s a bit chewy and gamey, and I can’t say I really like the taste of it too much. But when in Rome, one must at least try the kangaroo meat.
This particular post is being typed while on a boat hovering over the Great Barrier Reef, somewhere east of Cairns. It wasn’t particularly fun getting here, because despite a copious dose of gravol and wristbands and all manner of staring at the horizon, I couldn’t keep my breakfast down. Seasickness rears it’s ugly head. It takes 2 hours of rolling waves to get to the reef, so you can imagine there’s plenty of opportunity in there for things to go horribly wrong. Sadly, I think I may have been the only one who actually ralphed. Well, that shall be my claim to fame, then. I’m the girl that barfed.
Well, it’s now been 3 days since I started this post, because my loving husband forgot to bring the plug converter along on the boat, so I was running on battery, which was low to start with. Now I’m not sure when this’ll get posted, but I’m hoping for soon. The dive trip went well. We survived, which is something considering it consisted of 11 dives (4 the first and second days, and three on the third). Neither of us got the bends, and after about half a day my stomach finally calmed down enough that I felt like eating. Which was good considering the sheer amount of food that was available. You actually burn a ton of calories while SCUBA diving, due to the fact that you’re in the water fighting current and swimming around, but it also takes quite a bit of extra energy to breathe bottled air at depth. So we’d dive, then eat, then dive, then eat, and so on. And we never had to cook or do dishes at all. It was awesome. Well, until we had to dive again, and then there was the whole trying-to-put-on-a-freezing-cold-wetsuit thing. Miserable, that was. But once you got the thing on it wasn’t so bad. The water was around 23 degrees Celsius, which apparently is really cold for the Great Barrier Reef, but awesome if you’re from Canada and the water temp of your last dive was 9 degrees. My wetsuit didn’t fit at all. Again. I’ve accepted now that I’ll never find a standard wetsuit that will fit me, but this one was particularly bad. First, they tried to give me one that was about 3 sizes too small. Then one that I couldn’t get my thighs into. Finally I got one that I could get up my legs, but when I put the top on there was a good 2 inches of loose material around my arms. Super. Thankfully I brought a rashie that I wore under it to keep me at least a little bit warmer. Oh, and the material on the outside of the suits was so abrasive that I ripped open the knuckles on 3 fingers trying to get into one on the first day. Then I had to dive for 3 days with seriously abraded knuckles. This is in addition to my aviary attacked finger. I feel really bad for my hands right now.
We did see tons of fish, big and small, and even more different kinds of coral and anemones. It really is a very diverse reef. We did 2 night dives and managed to see a few sharks, which we were told many times were harmless-and really, they were fairly small, so I think we could’ve taken them if we’d really needed to. On the way out we saw a pod of dolphins, and on the way back we stopped for a good 10 minutes for a bunch of whales-I think they were Minke whales, but don’t quote me on that. The diving itself was excellent, once you managed to get your gear on and actually get in the water.
Living on a boat was a whole new thing, though. It pitches and rolls literally all the time-and we were out on what the crew said was relatively calm seas. We’re talking, like, a good 4-6 feet of up and down all the time. Ugh, I’m getting ill just thinking about it. It made sleeping pretty interesting. And going to the bathroom. And showering. Yes, they had showers on the boat, with a seemingly endless supply of hot water-I still can’t figure out how they stored that much fresh water on the boat. But showering when the floor keeps rising and dropping the entire time is pretty weird. Somehow we managed, and acquired what one of the crew called our “sea legs”. Which explains why, now that we’re on dry land, the ground still feels like it’s moving. I wonder how long that’s going to last…
Now I think it’s time to leave you, as we should be getting on the road and heading south for more adventure.
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